


Jason Todd: A Real Ladies' Man

by mitch23k



Category: Batman (Comics), DC - Fandom, DCU (Comics)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 08:39:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12980301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitch23k/pseuds/mitch23k
Summary: Jason Todd's life has been shaped by the women around him since 1983. It's time to read deeper into those relationships.





	Jason Todd: A Real Ladies' Man

Jason Todd loves his mother.

Each morning, she peppers him with kisses to wake him, then he watches in pure amazement as she does her makeup. Helping to grab whatever she asks for from the bag. The lipsticks and blushes are all from days before Crime Alley, when she was an understudy- and she doesn’t really need them anymore, but no one in Gotham buys makeup from women off the streets, so she’s kept them.

“Mascara,” she says, and he digs around for it, proudly presenting it once he’s got it. She smiles and thanks him, finishing her morning ritual.

Then he would walk him to the door to make sure she was safe, scowling at Ms Marone’s ugly tomcat in the hallway, and she would kneel down and ask how she could possibly thank him for protecting her, and he would smile slyly and point to his cheek, and she would kiss him and-

And that’s how it used to be, anyway.

Now that Willis Todd is dead, cut up by Two-Face, and Catherine is back on heroin (like she promised she wouldn’t, she swore to Jason that she was done…) she doesn’t work anymore. Jason doesn’t walk her to the door and get a goodbye kiss and then walk to school by himself. He dropped out awhile ago. His mom was upset when she learned about that. “I wanted you to be a teacher,” she sighed, but didn’t pressure him to reinstall. She just laid back down on the torn mattress and took a nap.

She does that a lot nowadays.

She was asleep before Jason could say “I wanted to be a teacher too.”

But taking care of Mom is more important, he reasons. It’s fine. Most kids his age have dropped out of Crime Alley’s one lowly school by ten. He made it to eleven. It’s fine.  
He boosts tires now, sells him to Dad’s old friend behind the diner. Sometimes he doesn’t get enough cash to last, so he steals from market stalls. He’s good too- yet to get caught. And sometimes... sometimes he has to do other stuff too. Just to get by. It’s not right, he’s well aware, but it’s for Mom. He’d do anything to make sure she’s safe and warm and fed, and he’s intent on keeping her that way for as long as possible.

 

 

“-I’m as sound as a dollar, doc. Probably even more so, considering the economy!”

Doctor Leslie Thompkins laughed. “I’m sure, Robin. Everything seems in working order…no shortness of breath?”

“Nope.”

“Aches? Pains?”

“Nada,” he says with a grin.

“Are you lying, Jason?”

“Name’s Robin, doc.” He frowns at that. She’s always ready to humble Jay. She’s a sharp lady, Doctor Thompson. “And no, I’m not.”

“Sure?”

“Positive.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

“Without a doubt?”

“Totally and-”

“Robin,” Bru - _Batman_ stands at the doorway. “We should go. Everything fine, Leslie?”

“Yes, yes, Bruce.” Doc was scowling, which wasn’t good. Despite their shared history, the Boss and Doc got in fights often over the whole vigilante thing. “Jason’s the pinnacle of health. I see you solved the malnourishment problem quickly. Do I sense Alfred’s hand at play there?”

Batman winced at the total and complete lack of codenames. But Robin smirked. Even the big guy could get taken down a notch by the doc.

He sighed, giving up. “Yes, Alfred got in contact with a nutritionist for that. I wouldn’t let the boy patrol in bad health.”

She observed him from behind her thick glasses’ frames. “I have trouble believing that,” she said sourly.

“Robin,” Batman said again, and the boy in question jumped up.

“On my way, bossman,” he mumbled. In long strides, Batman exited the clinic with the smaller boy on his heels. “Crime Alley circuit?” he asked once outside, almost pleading. He loved busting the bad guys and gals there - so many of them had contributed, domino-effect style, to Catherine’s death. It was only wrong when they hit his old street, a street full of people that didn't look like Bruce or Barbara or Leslie - it looked like him. Brown-skinned kids and lost kids, _desperate_ , all of them desperate for a way to keep surviving.

It was the worst when kids Jason had grown up with were involved. Then he just wanted to get home as soon as possible.

“Of course, Robin,” Batman replied, and Robin beamed. Unclipping the grappling hook from his belt, he asked “How’d Leslie treat you?”

“Like a million bucks, Boss. She’s a sharp lady.”

“Well put.”

 

 

“Here, kid,” Batgirl said, handing him a chilidog while expertly balancing two others on the opposite arm.

“Thanks,” he said, smiling, and gobbled the snack down.

She watched in something like amusement. “You sure do suck those things down, huh?”

He nodded, and swallowed the huge bite before answering. “Love ‘em. You?”

“Eh. I don’t hate them, but they’re definitely not my first choice,” she answering, taking a bite.

Robin laughed. “Then why’d you get two, genius?”

Batgirl’s smile was barely noticeable, but still there, when she said “Because I knew you’d chow down, genius.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” she said graciously. They sat on the edge of a Gotham City Bank’s roof. Busting Two-Face’s latest drug soiree completed, they were celebrating. Robin was proud of the “job well done” as the Commish had said, but was troubled by a few…excessive moves he had used on Dent. Not because he cared about that dick's life, but because he was worried of Bruce's reaction.

As if reading the smaller boy’s mind, Batgirl said “You sure did lay down the law with Dent.”

Robin looked at his gauntleted hands, worrying his lip. “Yeah. Yeah, that was a little much, I guess.”

“It’s fine for now,” she replied, tapping the side of the building with her heeled boot. “You didn’t actually break the law. But you’re going to have to get a hold on your temper soon, or else-”

“-it’ll be my downfall, right?” Robin interrupted. “Yeah, B’s mentioned it once or twice or a million times.”

“You should work on your listening skills too.”

“Ha. Funny.”

The silence wasn’t broken for a few minutes, until Batgirl stood up, saying, “He told me about your father.”

Robin jumped to feet on the edge of the roof, trying to act taller than he actually was. “That’s none of your business, he shouldn’t have-”

“It’s alright, kid. Cool your jets.”She didn’t look intimidated. Darn it. “I’m fine with it- you are not your father, and all that, right?”

“Hmmph.”

“Add enunciation to your list,” she commanded, which lightened the air if nothing else. “I also understand why you hate Dent. Trust me, I get it, but you still have to go by the book.”

Robin snorted. “Yeah, because dressing up like a bat every night is by the book, right?”

“You know what I mean, Jason.”

“Whatever. I hate Two Face, and nothing you say is gonna change that, okay? I hate him. What did Nightwing do when they found his guy?”

Without smiling like she usually did at his juvenile behaviour, she said evenly, “He was mad. But he didn’t try to kill him.”

Jason’s voice dropped to a whisper. No more codename game, then. “I guess I’ll just _never_ be Dick Grayson, huh?”

Her face went slack for a millisecond, then she very quickly attempted to reinstate the Batglare, failing miserably. “I didn’t mean that before, Robin, you know that. We weren’t friends then, and-”

“We’re friends now?”

“-and Dick had just gotten replaced and I was pissed and…you’re a good kid, kid. I’m glad you’re around. I was wrong before. You’re not Dick and he’s not you. It’s okay. Nothing wrong with that. I mean, I’m not exactly Batman.”

“Mm. That’s fairly obvious.”

She rolled her eyes. “Attitude. See, friends can joke like that.”

“Was I joking?” Jason snorted.

“Jason, I’m sorry. I’ve said I’m sorry. And Bruce shouldn’t have told me about Willis…”

She looked genuinely apologetic. Jason’s shoulders sagged, accompanied with a sigh.

“I’m sorry too. I don’t always think before I act, I know, and especially not with Dent, you’re right. I’ll try better next time, BG.” All this was served with a hopeful, cheeky grin, his signature smile that made Bruce instantly forgive him for whatever he had gotten into. It melted Barbara as well.

“I won’t compare you and Nightwing,” she promised. “Or, at least, I’ll try. We’ll straighten this out together, okay?”

“Okay… but you’re explaining to the big guy why we’re twenty minutes late.”

“Twenty minutes…oh, shoot, wait-”

But he was two rooftops away by then, laughing, and as she swung to the next once, he heard her quiet laugh as well.

 

 _My mom’s alive, my mom’s alive, my mom’s alive_ , had been his only consistent thought for the past several days. He hadn’t even wondered if she wanted him back - just assumed, never thought, just acted, just like Bruce always said…

But Bruce wasn’t here now, and Jason Todd’s only thought was _Gotta save Mom, gotta save Mom, come on you idiot save your mother!_ Br- no, _Dad_ , Dad was on his way, but after she’d tricked Jason into this and been caught stealing, Jason wasn’t going to risk leaving her at his mercy. Dad had very few exceptions when it came to criminals. Sheila needed to get out of here.

He dragged himself over and started untying the ropes binding her, ignoring her flurried questions (his jaw was cracked and most of his teeth smashed, he couldn’t have responded if he tried) and struggling with the ties.

Eventually, through bleeding fingers, he got the ropes loose enough for Sheila to slip through. “Go…” Jason managed to murmur. “Run…for it. Go-”

And the ground rushed up to meet him very quickly.

He was pretty content with lying there, awaiting Bruce’s inevitable arrival, when a pair of arms lifted him to his feet.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you. We’ll get out of here together, you’ll see,” Sheila Haywood, betrayer, liar, thief, mother, doctor, comforter, said with a very forced smile. “It’ll be fine.”  
Absently, while being led to the door, Jason wondered if that was the overly cheery tone she reserved for patients near death. But no, they would be fine, Bruce would come…and with that his thoughts drifted away from his adoptive father to his various mothers.

Sheila had shiny hair, literally glowing in the Ethiopian sunlight. Now, in the dark of the warehouse, it was matted with sweat, but he had seen it earlier, glowing when they’d hugged…different from Catherine’s curly locks, but still pretty. Catherine had been a waitress and heroin addict, Sheila a doctor and thief of the relief fund variety. Catherine was sweet and caring up until the months leading to her death, then quiet and confusing and always tired and snapping at him. Sheila had been lying to him this whole time, probably had made up the backstory she’d spun, and now she was helping him.

Compare and contrast, compare and contrast…

“Wait here, I’ll get the door,” she said sweetly as she propped him up against a crate. Her eyes were watery, or maybe that was his fuzzy vision. _Don’t worry, Bruce’ll be here soon_ , he wanted to say to console her, but there was blood in his mouth. How many times had the crowbar caught his face? He’d tried to count at the beginning, ridiculously, for the status report Bruce would obviously ask for. _Twenty hits, Batman. No wait, twenty one. Yeah, twenty one. Ow. Ow. Make that twenty three, boss._

Suddenly, his thoughts were broke by his mother wailing. “No! No, please!”

He raised his head to look at her, and ouch, even that hurt. He really was bad off, wasn’t he? He wished he was home. Bruce would pet his hair and Alfred would hug him in the serene, secret way he did, and Babs would help him with his homework in exchange for a sparring partner, and maybe Golden Boy would be there and he’d plaster on that doofus smile and say Hey Lil Wing the way he’d been saying it since they’d started getting along. The doc might show to check up on him and ask if he was really really sure he was okay, and Selina was sashay in and plant one on his forehead and his mom would be there, like she had when he was little, before Willis had died, and she’d read to him and Sheila would be there too, why not, and-

“The door!” she shrieked. “It’s locked! The Joker locked us in here!”

Oh. Bruce wasn’t coming, was he?

But that was okay, Jason reasoned. Dad wouldn’t make it in time, but he could still help mom.

  
With all the strength he had left, he jumped in front of Sheila Haywood, Mother, and the explosion ripped through the building and he’d never visit Babs in the Disabled wing again, and Catherine was long gone, and Doc couldn’t patch him up, but he could save Sheila, and then it was dark and he was alone.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this awhile ago and posted it on my tumblr, but I'm just now posting it here. One day I hope I'll get around to finishing my post-death version with Cass, Stephanie, Selina, Barbara (again), Talia, etc etc etc. I just always found it really cool that Jason always had the strongest relationships with girls rather than the guys in his life (minus Bruce and Alfred, of course.) Also I was going to title this "Proud of Your Boy" from Aladdin the musical. but I changed my mind at the last minute.


End file.
